busy
 bus·y (bĭzʹē)adj. bus·i·er, bus·i·est
1. Engaged in activity, as work; occupied.
2. Sustaining much activity:
a busy morning; a busy street.
3. Meddlesome; prying.
4. Being in use, as a telephone line.
5. Cluttered with detail to the point of being distracting:
a busy design.tr.v. bus·ied, bus·y·ing, bus·ies
To make busy; occupy:
busied myself preparing my tax return. [Middle English bisi, busi, from Old English bysig.] busʹi·ly adv.busʹy·ness n.
Synonyms: busy, industrious, diligent, assiduous, sedulous
These adjectives suggest active or sustained effort to accomplish something. Busy, the most general, sometimes indicates constant and customary work or activity: a busy lawyer; a busy day. Industrious implies steady application that is often habitual or the result of a natural inclination: weeds pulled by an industrious gardener. Diligent suggests constant painstaking effort, often toward the achievement of a specific goal: a diligent detective. Assiduous emphasizes sustained application: assiduous efforts to learn French. Sedulous adds to assiduous the sense of persistent, thoroughgoing endeavor: “the sedulous pursuit of legal and moral principles” (Ernest van den Haag).
|
|
